USS Whitehurst One to who knows DE.

[Fliger747]

Mast is now fixed in position. Looks like the solution I have arrived at is to do Whitehurst in her Measure 21 pre Pearl, pre Kamikaze rig, with the exception of the position of the raft positioning abeam the Quad 40. At some point these were on racks and not on a rail mount and I will leave them ae such position. So 5N and 20B paint job. I'll mix up a small batch of my hull red from Golden Red Oxide and tone it down little with a snitch of black or Burnt Siena as I used on the DMS. This is probably the paint she was in when she sank her sub. Of course possible she was in Dazzle or Measure 22.

I still need to print the anchor chain, at this scale it seems to be overly fragile and will need some massaging. maybe the paint before de platforming as used on the vertical ladder will work. The props, last, will take a dab of my bronze prop concoction, bronze with some burnt siena. Then rigging!!!!! I have enough trouble rigging larger models, so this should be an adventure. I can only hope to attempt emulation of some of our experienced micro surgeons.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Mast fixed in place and a few minor parts aded. Coin is Yi Yuan, 1 RMB from China. Maybe worth 12 cents or so.

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Really looks fine! For a tiny model you've outdone anything anyone would expect - Kudos!!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Speaking of the Chinese coin... One night I left the hotel in Shanghai to walk down to the corner stop and rob (Circle K) and of course was accosted by a very persistent, but pretty Chinese girl with goods to sell. Not interested but she was very persistent so I decided to negotiate, which she would understand. I offered "Wu Jiao", or half a Yuan, she seemed mildly miffed so I offered Yi Jiao (1/10 yan, 1.2 cents), insulted she stomped off muttering something between cheap pilots and death to the capitalist running dogs. Mission accomplished with a large bottle of Tsingtao to take back for a nightcap.

[DrPR]

Tsingtao was pretty good - for a light beer.

I have to keep reminding myself that this model is about 1:500. Like Hank said, you have done an outstanding job.

Phil

[Fliger747]

Phil:

Yes Tsingtao (pronounced Chingdow) isn't a bad beer. Supposedly the Germans taught both them and the Thai's to brew, similar to Singha.

It's actually surprising what does print detail wise, the 1:514 fire hydrants have a four spoke wheel, which if one gets out a high magnification loup, actually prints. A main obstacle is the strength of the resin, so the chains which print with some detail, are unable to survive support removal or handling. Very small items will print and survive, such as hand grabs or small scale rails if the unsupported distances are not large. Working in a relatively small scale develops skills that might be useful in spades in larger models. I never thought that a decent 20 mm Orlikon would be realized at this size.

The idea here is to produce a prototype model. Model making is a continuum of figuring out what something looked like, how it functioned and puzzling out how we can replicate it in some scale. I have found out a lot of things that would make for a better larger scale model.

Cheers: Tom

[bwross11]

Tom,
I concur with Phil; for the scale you are creating quite the impressive "proto" build. Can't wait to see what you'll do on a larger scale.

Also believe that the Tsingtao beer wasn't too bad. Beat some of the other beverages I found on WestPac!

[Fliger747]

Thank you Bruce! Certainly there were some marginal beverages. In China there were the "Great Wall" wines... San Miguel beer was notorious for the formaldehyde. The Japanese spent billions to attempt to recreate Scotch. Missing the secret ingredient, real Scottish Bog Water...

Going to experiment with "bottle" paints after mixing my own for years. Maybe because (1) Cann'a find my S&S pint chips (2) small scale of the object. Tracking says someone slaving away down in the bowls of the Post Office placed my order in a parcel locker early this morning, a Federal Holiday.

For the lower hull colors I'll stick with my toned down "Golden" Red oxide and a very excellent Liquitex flat black for the boot top. After painting I can attempt rigging and install the bridge fold down windows. Not sure how to do the yet, maybe mask and paint think clear plastic as found in almost any bubble packed item these days. Maybe print a frame, haven't decided. Working in a new scale one has to come up with new technique.

Then a base? Nice thing about tiny models, they will fit in my hall display case and take up almost no room.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

The "Valley-Jo" paints arrived and using the chart in the color section here for 5N, I mixed the appropriate paints and thinned with flow aid etc, sprayed OK, acrylics are always, at least for me a PITA. I had primed the ship with my home mix "APA gray" and it was quite hard to tell where I painted as the color/hue and value were quite close. Now to hand paint the decks in a 20B equivalent. A real modeler would have done all this at the appropriate time, but that wasn't the real purpose of this pre model and I don't play a real modeler on TV. I'll probably overspray with Krylon 1311 before masking the hull for the bottom paint. Tomorrow I'll pick up a couple of the tiny but expensive spotting brushes for the 20B. It's doable.

Cheers: Tom

[mikegr]

look like a rapid built!

[Fliger747]

Mike:

I already have a goodly number of components, 3", quad 40's, 20 mm's, chocks, bitts, depth charge racks, K guns, props and whatnot already in files that print or with some modification print. Makes for a lot of off the shelf items. A very small model for instance doesn't take as long to sand the hull or basic paint.

Rigged the model more or less. two steps forward, one step back. Sprue rigging can be snapped tight with a gentle heat. i have an adjustable temperature wood burner and waving the tip at the right spacing will tighten the rigging. However I haven't done this in a while and occasional accidents are inevitable.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Whitehurst 1:514 today in measure 21. A small scale model emphasizes all the things you are bad at... Props aren't bronzed yet, rigging is mostly OK as you can hardly see it except for the halyards which I may re do. They need the ends trimmed a little on the yards, need better clippers!

Tom

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Very nice, indeed!!! From sea to shining sea....well, glass patio table, right??? Almost a sea !!!

Good job on the bottom & boot topping. Quite the little boy you've got there!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Thanks Hank!

Still have the anchor gear to go! Will be put off for a little bit as I have visitors.

Regards: Tom

[Fliger747]

Ah yes, I also forgot I have to bronze the props, using my bronze burnt siena mix, which will have to be brushed. At this scale OK, but to look convincing with larger props has to be air brushed.

Then some sort of base, right now in the hall case sitting on a medallion.

[Fliger747]

Busy with visitors but picked up some Liquitex matt medium and a 2 oz of their ultramarine flat plus a spotting detail brush. Our local craft store now carried the Canson papers that Weflack recommended. Got the heavy Bristol which seems similar to the Strathmore i typically use but a little heavier. Cuttable with my Cameo stencil cutter and might be good for some ship construction. These archival art papers can often replace styrene in some applications with advantage.

Next effort with the mini Whitehurst is to build a base. Most likely it can reside in a glassed in display case with other items so just needs a base and keel blocks or whatever. Props and hull numbers to go. At the small scale probably better to use the Dr Phil method rather than as press applies, though they worked well as draft marks on the larger models.

[Fliger747]

Back after an enjoyable break from the shipyard with a guest. My guest happened to have "Greyhound" on her Eye-Pad and that was fun to watch. As with most of the Hanks WWII films, pretty well researched though the sinking of a U Boot with the first depth charge run seemed pretty unlikely according to the statistics. One can see where the Hedgehog was a significant advancement. Wish the thing would be domestically available on Disc, almost all I see advertised are from Sri Lanka or China and knockoffs.

Painting props with my Bronze, rust mix. Airbrushing is better but brush OK at this scale and the props already on the ship. Perhaps I am wrong (happens) but it seems most of the small scale ships are done as waterline. A reason for this?

Autumn colors at their fairly spectacular zenith currently, though a strong gust causes a blizzard of swirling leaves coming down.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

As I have mentioned before Mr DP, forum troll, is not welcome posting on my threads and his persistence in doing so is proof of Troll Status. He would be more productive in showing his own Scratch Built project to which others could comment.

Ability and respect is garnered by good works produced.

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

Getting ready to add an array of keel blocks, 3D printed, a trial effort! I don't have the actual keel block layout, so a little artistic license here.

Whitehurst in 1944 before sinking her sub and taking a Kamikaze off Okinawa.

[BB62vet]

Tom,

Looks very nice, indeed! You've done a whale of a job on such a little model - the detail is quite stunning and really brings out how badly some of these 1/700 scale kits really are - IMHO, they all suck!!! Your detailed parts are far superior!

Hank